Friday, September 3, 2010

Here are some pictures of Howard Hughes' wooden troop carrying flying boat that he built from 1944 to 1947. This plane flew just 8 months after my boat was delivered to my home town. For more, GOOGLE Spruce Goose. It could carry 750 fully equipped troops.

These last two are models of the construction out of birch plywood. The skin is about an eighth of an inch thick, made of 9 plies of very thin birch layers. The wing span is 20 feet longer than a football field. It is made of 95% wood. A man can walk upright in the wings, and thus service the engines while the plane was flying.

This is all about Me

I'm from Idaho, born and raised on a farm. I spent 2 years in the Army during the cold war, and 5 years in Salt Lake City. The rest of my life has been in Idaho. I have 6 children, 21 grand children and 26 great-grand children, scattered in California, Texas, Colorado, Idaho, Utah and Arizona. I am the youngest of seven with only two of us left. I have strong family ties and I am a religious person with strong moral ethics. Like L'll Abner says, "I got scruples."
I have been an airplane pilot for fifty years, owned 1 plane and worked as a corporate pilot for 10 years. I have owned 6 boats, 22 cars and several dogs and cats. I was married to one beautiful lady for 42 years, 2 months and 5 days. Her generous heart got tired and she went to a better place in September of 2007. But this is not about sympathy. I am a happy person, never bored with several hobbies. I am also a computer adventure game addict.